“Most college athletes go pro in something other than sports” has been a popular theme for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car TV commercials.

And that certainly has resonated with University of Michigan senior walk-on tight end Mike Jocz, a Novi High grad who will make his final appearance for the Maize and Blue football team on Jan. 1 at the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

Jocz, who is majoring in mechanical engineering, was the recipient earlier this month of the Dr. Arthur D. Robinson Scholarship after boasting the top cumulative grade-point average (3.97) on the Wolverine roster.

And while Jocz has appeared in only six games during his U-M career, he savored his experience while giving a stirring speech earlier this month during the Michigan Football Bust held at Laurel Manor in Livonia.

“I thanked God for getting me through the last four years,” Jocz said. “I don’t know how I did it with football and classes. I thanked my parents and my sisters for always being there.

“I talked to the underclassmen a little bit. I thanked coach Harbaugh and (tight ends) coach Jay (Harbaugh) for letting me continue football here at Michigan when they came over as coaches and allowing me to be late to Tuesday and Thursday practices in the spring because of class.”

Jocz was named Academic All-Big Ten in 2014. He also has collected U-M's Academic Athletic Achievement Award twice (2013 and 2014) and will more than likely to earn both honors again in 2015.

Jocz also implored words of wisdom to U-M’s underclassmen while giving thanks to many of his teammates and housemates including fellow walk-ons Greg Froelich, Ben Pliska and A.J. Pearson, along with Ben Braden and Blake Bars.

“I told them I hope this award would encourage them to pursue a degree that interests them and not just one that you can do with football,” he said. “To achieve this, surround yourselves with other Michigan men that have the same values. By deciding themselves to be Michigan men, they can push through the difficult times and grind through it.”

Jocz was an all-conference wide receiver who also lettered in basketball and track at Novi. After graduating from high school in 2012, there was never a doubt where he was going to attend college.

“I was going to come to the University of Michigan regardless of football,” Jocz said. “I’m fifth generation U-M. Both my parents and my grandparents attended the university and graduated. My older sister got her undergrad and is working on her Ph.D in chemical engineering, so growing up I always had a passion for the university and grew up just watching Michigan football Saturdays, so that’s where I always wanted to go since I was little.”

Jocz entertained continuing his football career, but wasn’t sure it would happen at U-M.

“Once I finally got in (admitted), my defensive coordinator my senior year in high school at the time, Chris Hare, ran into coach (Al) Borges, the offensive coordinator at U-M at a camp in Columbus (Ohio) and knew I possibly wanted to walk on,” Jocz recalled. “So that’s when the whole walk-on thing became a reality for me.

“I always wanted to play here. All through high school it became more and more of a dream, but the reality is only a small group of players come to play at the Division I level.”

Jocz redshirted his freshman year and appeared in one game during his sophomore season (2013). As a junior (2014), Jocz earned his letter as he started four games on special teams averaging in the range of 10 snaps per game.

But after a 5-7 season, head coach Brady Hoke was let go and Jocz had to prove himself all over again when the Harbaugh regime arrived.

“In spring ball all the coaches were coming in with fresh eyes,” the 6-foot-4, 231-pound tight end said. “They had no preconceived notions of who was going to play or what everybody was, so everyone was on a level playing field. They just had to go out there and prove themselves, give a great first impression to the coaches and I think a lot of guys took advantage of that and worked their butts off. There was a lot of competition going on. I think it made everyone better as a result.”

Michigan finished the regular season at 9-3 as Jocz made his first appearance Sept. 26 against BYU. For the season, he participated in total of six snaps.

And with only one game remaining in his college football career, Jocz wants to go out a winner.

“Florida is a great team,” Jocz said of U-M’s upcoming bowl opponent. “They’re very talented and athletic players who will be play hard, so we know it’s going to be tough and bring our best football. I think we’ll be prepared and we’ve really been working hard getting through all these finals (exams), but also studying plays and getting after it at practice. I think we’ve got bunch of competitive guys who are ready to go down there and get the 10th win that we’ve been wanting for so long.”

Jocz is on track to graduate this spring and plans to apply for grad school where he’ll continue in the field of mechanical engineering.

“I’m going to try and do an accelerated program,” the reserve tight end said. “Instead of two years, it’s called a flex program, which I can finish in one year. That’s my goal right now. Once I graduate with my Masters I don’t know what I want to do yet. Good thing about mechanical engineering is you can go to a lot of different industries and fields with it. There’s always demand for it, but I really haven’t found what uniquely interests me yet. It will depend in the next couple of years to find something I’m really interested in, or also where I want to end up living. If it’s around here it will probably be something automotive or if I go anywhere else I’ll have my own area of expertise.”

Looking back on his three-and-a-half years of juggling football and studies, Jocz feels fulfilled and grateful on many fronts.

“It’s a challenge either way at this level,” he said. “Everything is so competitive at a great university like this. Obviously Big Ten football is up there, too. Both are demanding physically and mentally, and just being able to get through it ... there are times where I said, ‘I don’t know, how am I going to get through the week and get everything done?’

“But somehow God got me through it. Guys around me got me through it. It always seemed to come together. There’s a lot of guys on the team that excel with it very well like Dan Liesman, Joe Kerridge, Desmond Morgan – all those guys to a great job balancing it. It’s not easy and it’s not for everybody, too. If everyone can balance both there would be more than 100 guys on the football team.”

And Jocz could easily be that spokesman being that college athlete who is going pro in something other than sports.